in this sense that when they were in affliction they besought the Lord God and humbled themselves greatly before the God of their Fathers For this great Offendor could often say He could never be humbled enough Upon the 13 of August when he was arraigned at the Sessions in the Old-Baily he pleaded Guilty to the Indictments with very much shame confusion of face and sorrow of heart And on Friday the 15 of August he demeaned himself very humbly before the Bench heartily submitting to the Sentence of death that then passed upon him saying He had destroyed the Image of the Eternal GOD alluding as I verily believe to those words in Gen. 6. 9. For in the Image of God c. After his Sentence he was conveyed back to prison penitently acknowledging that he had neglected the good Word of God and therefore was the longer kept off through ignorance of the Gospel from closing with Christ Jesus But after a few dayes discourse with several Ministers and others who opened the Scriptures to him he began to understand through the Grace of God the Word of Grace And though he had many good Books brought to him by divers visiting Friends yet he chiefly looked into the holy Scriptures themselves and found very much advantage light and peace by these following passages out of the Old Testament viz. 2 Sam. 12. 9. Where Nathan spake sharply to David for despising the Commandment of the Lord to do evil in the sight of the Lord in killing Uriah the Hittite with the Sword vers 13. David said to Nathan I have sinned against the Lord and Nathan said to David The Lord also hath put away thy sin From hence he understood the readiness of God to forgive confessing repenting sinners though they are guilty of innocent blood Job 33. 27 28 He the Lord looketh upon men Oh that men would look after the Lord and if AN T say I have sinned and perverted that which was right and it profited me not he that is the Lord will deliver his Soul from going into the pit and his life shall see the light Isa. 45. 18 19. I said not unto the seed of Jacob Seek ye me in vain Isa. 55. 7. Let the wicked forsake his way and the unrighteous man his thoughts and let him return to the Lord and he will ABUNDANTLY pardon The word abundantly he used to pronounce with an emphasis for he saw his eyes being now anointed with spiritual Eye salve that he had multiplied sins exceedingly and that he stood in absolute need of the Lords abundant multiplied pardons whereof he had good hope through this good word of Isaiah Ezek. 18. 23. Have I any pleasure at all that the wicked should die saith the Lord God and not that he should return from his wayes and live 30. Repent and turn your selves from all your transgressions So iniquity shall not be your ruine 31. Cast away from you all your transgressions whereby ye have transgressed and make you a new heart and a new spirit for why will you die O house of Israel 32. For I have no pleasure in the death of him that dyeth wherefore turn your selves and live ye Ezek. 33. 11. Say unto them As I live saith the Lord here the poor Prisoner would note to his comfort that a repenting sinner had not onely the Word and Promise of God for forgiveness but the Oath of God to give such a sinner the greater assurance of pardon I have no pleasure in the death of the wicked but that the wicked turn from his wayes and live Turn ye turn ye see the importunity of God with poor sinners for the good of their souls from your evil wayes For why will ye die O house of Israel Micah 7. 18. was a place pleasant to his Soul Who is a God like unto thee that pardoneth iniquity and passeth by the transgression of the remnant of his heritage He retaineth not his anger for ever because he delighteth in mercy Vers. 19. He will turn again as one doth when his anger is gone he will have compassion upon us he will subdue our iniquities and thou wilt cast ALL their sins into the depth of the Sea Now I shall give you a short List of some New-Testament Texts whereby the Lord conveyed Counsel and Consolation to this doubting staggering poor Wretch Mat. 18. 11. For the Son of man is come to save that which was lost Joh. 3. 14 15 16. And as Moses lifted up the Serpent in the Wilderness even so must the Son of man be lifted up that whosoever believeth in him should not perish but have eternal life for God SO loved the WORLD that whosoever this word whosoever he spake with joy believeth in him should not perish but have everlasting life Now saith Nathaniel Butler I am one to whom this word speaketh and therefore God gave the Lord Jesus Christ for my Soul I believe in him and therefore I trust to live eternally through him according to the gracious terms of the Gospel John 6. 37. And him that cometh to me I will in no wise here he would repeat and reiterate these words in NO WISE CAST OUT in NO WISE in NO WISE cast out 1 Tim. 1. 15. This is a faithful saying and worthy of all acceptation that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners of whom I am chief 1 Tim. 2. 5 6. For there is one God and one Mediator between God and men the Man Christ Jesus who gave himself a ransom for all to be testified in due time In hearing reading and conferring upon these and many more Scriptures he would often say to me and others These are good Scriptures brave Scriptures are they not brave Scriptures He would make very diligent and frequent search into his Soul concerning the sincerity of his Sorrow and would not easily believe that his Repentance was true or that he had right to the precious Promises of the Gospel But by much speaking to him by many good people that he would apply Christ and also by seeking unto God for a spirit of Faith for him he did begin to act a faith of recumbency and adherence being as he often said perswaded the Lord Jesus Christ was able to save to the uttermost and willing to save such as come unto God by him yet he could not come up to that full assurance of hope and confidence as he desired and we also desired heartily on his behalf Yet for some certain dayes before his suffering death it pleased the God of all Comfort to give him Joy and Consolation and sometimes strong consolation insomuch that he would at times express very great inward gladness which all that knew his former mournings were glad to see and glorified God for giving him the Joy of his Salvation for he was so satisfied concerning the favour and mercy of God towards him in Jesus Christ that he rather now desired Death then feared it as seeing death through Jesus Christ without
concerning him O that that was the wicked Wretch that drew me away if it had not been for him I had not been in so lamentable a case upon my Death-bed 8. Bonosus a Britain and bred up in Spain usurped the Empire of Rome in the Reign of Probus of whom it is written That he would drink so much Wine as ten great drinkers could not drink so much and therewithall he had two wonderful properties The one was that how much soever he drank he was never drunk The other was that when it pleased him he could piss it out as fast as he poured it in without retaining any jot within his body Being overcome by Probus he hang'd himself The Emperour Aurelian was wont to say of him That Bonosus was not born to live but to drink Imperial Hist. page 211. 9. Tiberus Nero made Novellus Tricongius Pro-consul for that he could drink three Pottles of Wine together with one breath 10. He also preferred Lucius Piso to the Government of the City of Rome because he could sit drinking with him continually for two whole dayes and nights together Suetonius 11. To prevent drunkenness and the evil consequents of it the Carthaginians forbad their Magistrates all use of Wine 12. Solon punished Drunkenness in a Ruler with Death 13. Anno Christi 1578. February 10. in the Countrey of Sâ—aben about Eight persons that were Citizens and Citizens Sons whose names my Author setteth down met together at a Tavern whereof the Masters name was Anthony Huge on a Sabbath morning where they drank themselves drunk and then began to blaspheme God and to scoff at the Host who advised them to leave drinking and to go to Church to hear the Word preached at which they not only continued to mock but went on in their drinking when suddenly the Devil came in among them in the habit of a Cavalier who drinking to them set their mouths in such a fire that these Drunkards not only became amazed thereat but also after a miserable manner were all strangled to death Stephen Batemen Professor of Divinity 14. Anno Christi 1556. in the Town of St. Gallus in Switzerland there was one Peter Besler who was born at Rotmund but was now a Servant to a Citizen whose habitation was near unto St. Gallus This dissolute young man was much given to the beastly Sin of Drunkenness and upon Trinity-Sunday which was May the 21 st he together with some of his Companions went to the Town of Sangal there to be merry And when they had drunk freely this young man began to rail at and to quarrel with his Companions and using many Blasphemies against God he added this Execration also If I serve my Master any longer I give my Body and Soul to the Devil When he had staid there all night in the morning awaking he began to think what words he had uttered the night before yet having no other means of subsistence he resolved to return to his Masters Service but going out of the City when he was now not far from his Masters House a man met him clad in black and fearful to behold who said unto him Go to Good fellow I am now ready to take that which is my right and which thou gavest me yesterday Which when he had said taking the fellow by the hand who was amazed with horror and altogether astonished he threw him to the ground and so vanished Not long after this this miserable young man being found by some of the Neighbours had his hands and feet drawn together and being brought to a Lodging he had the use of all his Limbs taken from him and so continued till he dyed miserably Ibid. Felix quem faciunt aliena pericula cautum It 's good to be warned by other mens harms Healths Drank one Drinks off a pottle pot of Sack and dyes within two hours after One Drownd in a Shallow brook of water being Drunk his horse standing by 5. or 6. Drank Healths in a Strange manner and dyed one after another in few weeks An exceeding Drunkard in Pembrock shire being Drunk broke himself all to pieces from an high Rock More Examples worthy of serious Consideration THere is a very remarkable Story published by Mr. Robert Abbot Minister some years since of Cranebrook in Kent concerning one William Rogers an Apothecary there that was exceeding much given to Drinking and Sabbath breaking He was in his general course as he relates of him a Young man of a sweet and pleasing temper It was reported that the Devil never abused a better Nature and he was observed never to Swear or Curse in all his Life except once but was often admonished and perswaded by Mr. Abbot to come to the Church on the Sabbath-dayes at last he was prevailed with to come though he had often promised and failed The Lords day before in the morning when as he said he was ready to come to Church he was taken sick and betook himself to his Bed it was but as a fit of an Ague which being over he was the next morning in his old course again but about the middle of the week after the messenger of Death came and Mr. Abbot forthwith addressed himself to him in his Chamber saying Oh how often have you deceived God your own Soul and me and what is now to be done I fear you will dye and then what will become of you His sickness so prevailed that it emptied him of any hopes of Life and filled him with thoughts of his present Guilt and future Judgment before the great God who is a consuming fire He apprehending his own misery made it known to him and others there was too great a fire within to be Smothered it burned in his own Soul and it Lightened from his Heart and Lips into the Ears and Hearts of those Friends that were about him One while he cryes out of his sins saying I have been a fearful Drunkard pouring in one draught after another till one draught could not keep down another I now would be glad if I could take the least of Gods Creatures which I have abused I have neglected my Patients which have put their Lives in my hands and how many Souls have I thus murthered I have wilfully neglected Gods House Service and Worship and though I purposed to go God strikes me thus before the day of my promise comes because I am unworthy to come among Gods people again Another while he falls to wishing Oh that I might burn a long time in that fire pointing to the fire before him so I might not burn in Hell Oh that God would grant me but one Year or a Month that the world might see with what an Heart I have promised to God my amendment Oh that God would try me a little but I am unworthy Another while he speaks to his Companions praying all to be warned by him to forsake their wicked wayes lest they go to Hell as he must do He forgot not
little sensible of what he had done Are you said he the person that committed the murther upon the maid at Ratcliff He said Yes O what think you of your condition What do you think will become of your precious Soul you have by this Sin not only brought your body to the Grave but your Soul to Hell without Gods Infinite mercy Were you not troubled for the Fact when you did it Not for the present Sir said he but soon after I was when I began to think with my self what I had done The next time he asked him whether he were sorry for the Fact He said wringing his hands and striking his breast with tears in his Eyes Yes Sir for it cuts me to the Heart to think that I should take away the Life of a poor innocent Creature and that is not all but for any thing I know I have sent her Soul to Hell O how can I think to appear before Gods Bar when she shall stand before me and say Lord this wretch took away my Life and gave me not the least space that I might turn to thee he gave me no warning at all Lord O then what will become of me Soon after the imprisonment of this Thomas Savage in Newgate upon the desire of one of his Friends Mr. R. F. and T. V. went to him in the Prison and had liberty with much readiness from the Keepers to discourse with him They asked him if he were the person that had murthered the Maid He answered that he was they did then open to him the hainous nature of that sin endeavouring to set it home upon his Conscience telling him of the express Law of God Thou shalt not Kill and the express threatnings That whosoever sheddeth mans blood by man shall his blood be shed They spake to him of the Law of the Land and the punishment of Death which would certainly be inflicted upon him that he had but a few Weeks more to live and then he would be Tryed and Condemned and Executed but they told him that the punishment of the temporal Death was but small in comparison with the punishment of Eternal Death in Hell which he had deserved and was exposed unto They told him that so soon as Death should make a separation between his Soul and body that his Soul must immediately appear before the dreadful Tribunal of the Sin-revenging God and there receive its final doom and be irreversibly sentenced to depart from the presence of the Lord into everlasting fire if he were found under the guilt of this or any other sin They asked him if he knew what Hell was telling him what a fearful thing it would be for him to fall into the hands of the living God how intolerable the immediate expressions of Gods Wrath would be upon his Soul what horrour and anguish he would there be filled withal and how he would be bound up in Chains of darkness until the Judgment of the great day and then told him of the glorious appearance of the Lord Jesus Christ to Judgment that Soul and Body should be then joyned together and condemned together and punished together with such exquisite torments as never entred into the Heart of man to conceive declaring the Extremity and the Eternity of the Torments of Hell which were the just demerit of his sins Then they asked him whether he had any hopes of escaping this dreadful punishment of Hell He answered that he had they enquired the grounds of his hopes He told them that he repented of his fault and hoped God would have mercy on his Soul They asked him whether he thought his Repentance could procure for him a Pardon He knew no other way They told him that God was just and his Justice must be satisfied and there was no way for him to do it but by undergoing the Eternal torments of Hell and did he know no way of satisfying God's Justice besides and pacifying his anger that was kindled against him No he knew not any And yet did he hope to be saved He answered Yes They enquired whether ever he had experience of a gracious change wrought in him Herein he could give no account and yet hoped to be saved They told him his hopes were unsound having no good foundation and he would find himself disappointed that it was not his Repentance his Tears and Prayers though he ought to use them as means that would save him if he fixed the Anchor of his hope upon them That if he hoped to be saved in the condition which for the present he was in he would certainly be damned that he must cast away all those groundless hopes he had conceived and endeavour to despair in himself that being pricked and pained at heart through the apprehensions of the wrath of God ready to fall upon him and seeing no possibility of flying and escaping if he looked only to himself he might cry out What shall I do to be saved and enquire after a Saviour And then they spake to him of the Lord Jesus Christ and the way of Salvation by him which before he was sottishly ignorant of as if he had been brought up in a Countrey of Infidels and not of Christians The words spoken to him by these two Ministers seemed to take little impression upon him whilest they were present yet after they were gone the Lord did begin to work and he did acknowledge to Mr. B. that two had been with him he knew not their names whose words were like arrows shot into his heart and he did wish he had those words in writing especially one expression of T. V. That he would not be in his condition for ten thousand Worlds did affect and so affright him that he said it made his hair stand on end Mr. Vincent Mr. Francklin Mr. Doolittle Mr. Janeway discoursed with him and he suffered very penitently and chearfully at Ratcliff near his Masters House We do not read of any more of all the drunkards and debauched persons that were Converted but those two Nathaniel Butler and Thomas Savage whom God gave true Repentance unto A Common Drunkard is the fittest man to make a debauched Health-drinker of they are so near akin to one another that there is little difference you can hardly know one from another and it is seldom seen that a Health is begun for his Majesty or his Highness the Duke of York till the Feasters are well entred in there Glasses of Wine first This I can Witness That one Evening this Winter two or three Drunken Companions met another drunken man in the street and did ask him if he would drink the Dukes Health He answered presently Yea I 'le drink any mans Health Is not the King and Duke much beholden to such for their Love that can shew it in no better way We are commanded and it s our duty to Fear God and to Honour the King and he that truly doth so will pray heartily to God to bless and